Brazil projects win UN environment contest

Two Brazilian organizations—the Kisêdjê Indigenous Association, located in the Xingu river basin, and the Indigenous Council of Roraima, both in the Amazon region—are among the 22 winners of the United Nations (UN) Equator Prize. The award, created by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), goes to innovative, nature-based solutions to climate change, environment, and poverty.

The winners were selected out of 847 candidates from 127 countries. The recipients will win $10 thousand each, at a ceremony to be held in New York on September 24, during the 74th UN General Assembly.

Pequi oil production in the Ngôjwêrê village of the Kisêdjê, in the Wawi territory - Rogério Assis / ISA / Equator Initiative / Rights Reserved.

The Kisêdjê Indigenous Association is based in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, considered by UNPD as “one of the most deforested in Brazil.” The UN agency said the association “transformed the region’s status quo, recovering its traditional territories and developing an innovative business model using the pequi, a native tree, to restore landscapes, promote food security, and develop products for both local and national markets.”

The Indigenous Council of Roraima, in turn, is described by UNPD as an indigenous alliance that “guaranteed the rights of 1.7 million hectares of traditional land for 55 thousand indigenous people,” at the same time, promoting “ecological and social resilience by preserving traditional varieties.”

Innovative solutions

In a note, UNPD Administrator Achim Steiner said that “every day, thousands of local communities and indigenous people across the world silently implement innovative, nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change and adapt to it.”

Steiner described the accolade as the “acknowledgment of these ideas and a way to show the power of the people and the communities to bring about real change.”

The UN Equator Prize was created in 2002 and was awarded to the Nobel prize winners like former US vice-President Al Gore and political economist Elinor Ostrom. Also awarded were environmentalists Jane Goodall and Jeffrey Sachs, executives and philanthropists Richard Branson and Ted Turner, and celebrities Edward Norton, Alec Baldwin and Gisele Bündchen.

The Kisêdjê people

Pequi harvest in the Ngôjwêrê village, of the Kisêdjê, in the Wawi territory - Rogério Assis/ISA/Equator Initiative/Direitos reservados

The Kisêdjê Indigenous Association (AIK) was founded in 2005 after nine years of preparation of its staff in the Xingu Indigenous Land Association. The organization serves to meet the needs and the preservation of the assets and the rights of four villages of the Kisêdjê of the Wawi Indigneous Land. The institution is in charge of  inspection efforts and agricultural activities, orchards, bee culture, handiwork, and cattle.

AIK’s biggest concern is environmental degradation. For this reason, it works to reverse deforestation in the region. It has received resources from the Soy Fund to replicate traditional species, like the pequi and the mangaba, and has worked with the Xingu Fund to recover riparian forests in degraded areas within its territory. The association also invests in communication, including registers of its culture, and plans to found a video production unit.

The association became famous after taking part in a documentary about climate change on National Geographic and a commercial of Brazilian shoe maker Grendende about a new line of sandals with lettering linked to a campaign dubbed Y Ikatu Xingu.

The Indigenous Council of Roraima does agricultural and forest work. – Equator Initiative / Rights reserved.

The Indigenous Council of Roraima

The Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) is an indigenous nonprofit aimed at protecting the rights of indigenous people in the state of Roraima. It is one of Brazil’s most active indigenous organizations.

*With information from UN News